1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to utility vehicles which are used for various uses, for example, transportation or travelling on golf fields, farms, etc., and are required to have off-road steerability and off-road mobility on unpaved roads such as bumpy or muddy roads.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a conventional utility vehicle includes an internal combustion engine as a driving power source. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,793,764 discloses an engine unit including an internal combustion engine and a transmission which are unitarily coupled together. The engine unit is positioned below a seat in the utility vehicle. The transmission is coupled to a front differential gear device via a front propeller shaft extending forward, and the front differential gear device is coupled to right and left front wheels via a pair of front axles extending to the right and to the left, respectively. The input shaft of the front differential gear device extends rearward therefrom and is coupled to the front propeller shaft. The transmission is coupled to a rear differential gear device via a rear propeller shaft extending rearward, and the rear differential gear device is coupled to right and left rear wheels via a pair of rear axles, respectively.
If a power unit including an internal combustion engine and an electric motor is incorporated into a utility vehicle as a driving power source, instead of a general power unit, a high fuel efficiency, etc., may be achieved. It is desirable to change the configuration of the general power unit as little as possible and not to increase complexity in manufacturing steps and manufacturing cost, when a hybrid utility vehicle is implemented.